Say You Love Me Too
by BlackOpal
Summary: Cassie and Jake have a little tear-eyed talk. Promised to make you cry! *hands out tissues* I've got extra soft!


Disclaimer: KA has all the rights to everything you see here. Except for the story. Because I wrote it. AND IT'S MINE! Bwhaha!

I moaned and rolled over, kicking the hot cotton sheets off of my sweating legs. Besides me in his sleep, Ronnie groaned and snuck a leg onto my side. I couldn't touch him. I didn't want to be near him. I had dreamt about Jake.

Jake was one of the only people that could make me feel so disgusted in myself. He's the only one that could make me puke when I take a good long look at myself in the mirror. And it's not his fault. Or Ronnie's. It's mine.

When I met Ronnie, he was just something to fill the empty hole Jake had left. I was hoping I'd fall in love with him. I was hoping that I'd forget my first love and move on with something that was more of my reality.

It never happened.

And poor Ronnie… he never thought he was good enough. He asked me once, just days after they died if I loved him. And I hadn't said yes. I couldn't. It was betrayal.

I would be betraying Jake if I said, "Of course I love you Ronnie!"

I was betraying Jake every time I kissed Ronnie. I was betraying Jake whenever my heart beat faster when I saw Ronnie's smile. I was betraying Jake every time I touched Ronnie. My world was an entire universe of betrayal.

Suddenly, I couldn't be in the bed I shared with Ronnie. I couldn't be in the bedroom I shared with Ronnie. And I couldn't be in the house I shared with him. I couldn't breathe. 

I grabbed my coat, rushing to get out of the house. I had to go somewhere. I climbed in my car while flipping on every light inside. I didn't want to be in the dark. Before long, the engine was started and I was no longer in the driveway.

I knew where I was going. I knew where I was driving myself. Did I want to go there? No. Not really. But I had no choice.

I turned off the car under the shadow of an Andalite. I got out of the car by a fist of a gorilla, my head lights turned off to hide a hawk. And when I walked three feet, there was a tiger in front of me.

I stared for a while. It was the first time I had seen this memorial. I had refused to come when they put it up. I had still been denying that I was the last one left. It had seemed impossible then. But now… looking up at the tiger's snarling face, I realized how stupid that was.

I reached out and stroked the tiger's paw. I had seen Jake morphing it a thousand times. It was familiar. It was the past. 

I cherished it.

"I miss you." I mumbled to the cold steel. "All of you." The statues said nothing. They stared ahead, eerie and calm. "You thought it was best for me," I said, turning to the tiger. I buried my face into the metal, running my cheek over the folds in its skin. "Did you have to leave me behind?"

"It was for the best…" 

"I know." Tears streamed down my face as Jake hugged me from behind. They fell onto his arms and dissolved into my skin. 

We stood in silence for a few minutes. I gripped his hand, refusing to let go of it. If I did… I would lose him. 

"I'm scared, Jake." I admitted. "I'm scared. I don't know what to do anymore. I can't breathe sometimes. It hurts so bad."

"I know, Cassie, I know." He muttered into my hair.

"I miss you most of all. Sometimes it feels like I can bear the pain when I think of the others, but then I think of you…" I felt his fingers rub against my cheek and I leaned into him, craving every touch of his now foreign hands. "I can't do this alone. I want so bad to give up…"

Jake pulled me closer and hissed into my hair. "Don't. Don't do that. It's not worth it."

"I'd be with you." New tears formed as I felt his kisses on my head.

"You have Ronnie." He said simply.

I shook my head. "He's not like you Jake. He's everything you weren't… I don't love him."

"Don't love him or don't _want to love him?" _

My world stopped. Suddenly it was just Jake and I and all the memories we had. It was stolen kisses, flirting words, secret looks and a deep love. I didn't want to let it go.

"I love you Jake."

Jake shuddered. He wanted to hear those words, I knew that much. And I also knew how much he craved to say the words back to me. But he wanted me to be with Ronnie, he wanted me to be happy, he wanted me to move on.

I couldn't do that and he knew it.

"Please say it Jake… I need to hear it."

Jake turned me around and lowered to kiss me. He took great care that I didn't see his face.

It was fire. It ran through my veins and toyed with my emotions. I felt his tongue flicker into my mouth and I was filled with passion. This is what I had longed for so long. And it was here and it was now and it was everything….

"I have to go," he said as he broke the kiss.

"No." I moaned. "Don't leave me alone Jake. Don't make me go through all the pain… please?"

Jake shook his head and started to walk backwards, removing my clutch from him.

"Cassie, come on. You're stronger then this. Be strong for me." His voice was fading. His body was disappearing. And just as I could barely see him I heard a whispered, "I love you."

Ronnie found me about an hour later. I was collapsed underneath Tobias, shivering from the cold. He put his coat around me and helped me to his car. We drove home.

And Jake was never spoken of again.


End file.
